Our use of cookies

Options

Back

We use cookies to help our site work, to understand how it is used, and to tailor the adverts presented on our site. By clicking “Accept” below, you agree to us doing so. You can read more in our
cookie notice. Or, if you do not agree, you can click Manage below to access other choices.

You can choose whether or not to accept advertising cookies from our advertising partner Google using the buttons below. If you choose not to, you will still see adverts on our site, because they help us to fund it, but those adverts will not be tailored to you. You can also choose not to accept session and analytics cookies through the settings in your browser, but some parts of our site might stop working as a result. You can also learn more in our
cookie notice.

Freedom for Devon! Delegation goes to London to demand devolution

Devon and Somerset currently have an annual economy worth over £34 billion – more than Britain’s second city, Birmingham

Share

by Neil Shaw

07:20, 13 Sep 2017Updated07:21, 13 Sep 2017

Enter your postcode to see news and information near you

Community updates, Crime Statistics, Local News & Events and much more...

Devon County Council leader John Hart is in London today to press the case for devolution for Devon and Somerset with Ministers.

The two counties currently have an annual economy worth over £34 billion – more than Britain’s second city, Birmingham.

Mr Hart is being joined by other council leaders at the meeting with Jake Berry, the Minister responsible for devolution and coastal communities.

An agreement has been reached by the two county councils, the two unitaries, all the district councils, the Local Enterprise Partnership, the two national parks and NHS representatives - with a plan for devolution submitted to the Government.

Mr Hart said he recognised that the Government was currently focusing attention on the Brexit negotiations but he wanted to get devolution back firmly on the agenda.

“I do not want our very strong bid for greater autonomy to get bogged down in Brexit,” he said.

“In fact, one of the key planks of our devolution plan is how we can improve training and skills in the region and boost productivity.

“That actually complements Brexit because it will help greatly strengthen the economy of our region and help boost trade.

“At the moment training and skills comes from a fragmented budget delivered by a whole host of organisations.

“We’ll be telling the Minister: ‘Give us the power and we will create a better skilled workforce to enhance our whole economy’.

One of the ways this would be achieved is by streamling the way young people are provided with careers advice and education information and guidance in schools and colleges.

Mr Hart continued: “We have 17 local authorities working closely together on this plan with our other partners.

“We have worked together as a team in producing the productivity plan and we have the united will to get on and succeed.

“We’re not holding out a begging bowl. The £30 million a year for 30 years that we could receive is a useful sum of money but ultimately we want the powers to get on and do what needs to be done so that the people of our region can get better jobs and have a better life in a thriving economy.”

Alongside the skills agenda, the partnership is also focused on improving road and rail links to the South West and creating more housing that is available to local people.

The South West currently receives only about 90 per cent of the public spending that goes into other regions and some areas, such as Torridge, Torbay and Newton Abbot, have some of the lowest earnings in the country.